Anatomical and functional subdivision within the primate lateral prefrontal cortex

Abstract

It has been suggested that there is specialization of function within the lateral prefrontal cortex; it has been argued that the ventral and dorsal divisions of the prefrontal cortex are concerned with the processing of form and spatial information, respectively. The evidence for such a division of function is reviewed. According to an alternative view, the dorsal prefrontal cortex is better thought of as playing a high-level role within the context of the motor system; this is consistent with the fact that it is this part of the prefrontal cortex that is connected with lateral and medial premotor areas, the parietal cortex, and the cerebellum and that it is this part of the prefrontal cortex that is concerned with action selection and attention to action. The ventral prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, has widespread connections with sensory cortices and may be essential for stimulus selection and sensory attention; this may underlie its role in arbitrary or conditional associations involving diverse stimuli.